Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

92 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

ThereisanotherconfessionIoughttomake.I havewrittenthisbook
asthoughthefourschoolsweretheonlyimportantforcesaffectingthe
politicsofAmericanforeignpolicy.Thatisofcoursenottrue.
Inthecontemporaryworld,Americanpoliticsincludesa greatm~ny
elementsthatdonotfiteasilywithinthisoranyelegantsimplification.
Ethniclobbies,ethicslobbies(likethosewhowanttheUnitedStates
eithertosupportoropposeabortionrights forwomenindeveloping
countries),economiclobbies,ideologicallobbies,andmanyotherinter-
estgroupsareconstantlytuggingatAmericanforeignpolicy.
I see theschoolsas differentfrom thelobbies;schools ultimately
reflecta broadstrategicconceptofthenationalinterest,whilelobbiesare
moreconcernedwithspecific policy outcomesona narrow range of
issues.Evenso,thefourschoolsI havesingledoutarenottheonlyenti-
tiestopromotea distinctvisionforAmericanforeignpolicyasa whole.
Oneexample,nowdefunct,comestousfromthepast.Wemightcall
ittheDavisonianschool,aftertheAmericansecretaryofwarwhoulti-
matelybecamethefirstandonlypresidentoftheConfederacy.Jefferson
Davisandhisalliesbelievedthatthefirstandalmosttheonlydutyofthe
UnitedStatesgovernmentwastopromotethesecurityandthereforethe
extensionofslavery. Tariffpolicy,territorialexpansion,relationswith
Britain: ForDavisoniansthequestionalwayscamebacktopreserving
their"peculiarinstitution."Loyaltytoslaveryeventuallyovercameboth
theircommonsenseandtheirloyaltytotheUnitedStates;Davisonians
endedup,literally,asa schooloftreasonas theyrushedtomeettheir
doom.YetatonetimetheycompetedforpowerinAmericanpoliticson
atleastequaltermswiththefourschoolsthatremain.
Othersmallschoolsorsectssurvive.Marxistsocialthoughtinpar-
ticularhasproducedanumberofschoolsthathaveusuallybeennumeri-
callysmall,butsometimespoliticallyorintellectuallyimportant.
However,I believe thattheHamiltonian,Wilsonian,Jeffersonian,
andJacksonianmovementsareuniqueinthattheyhaveexistedmoreor
lesscontinuouslyfromtheeighteenthcenturythroughthebeginningof
thetwenty-first,andthatalthougheachofthemhasexperiencedsome
vicissitudesoffortune,allofthemhavehada demonstrableandsignifi-
cantimpactonAmericanforeignpolicydebatesinallthegreaterasof
Americanhistory.
Ofcoursenoneoftheschoolsismonolithic.AmongWilsoniansthere
areatleasttwomajorgroups.RightWilsoniansbelievethattheUnited
StatesasitexiststodayhasgenerallyfulfilledthedreamsoftheFounding